VimpelCom Ltd.

"VimpelCom" redirects here. For the Russian company founded in 1992, see OJSC VimpelCom.
VimpelCom Ltd.
Public
Traded as
Industry Telecommunications
Predecessor OJSC VimpelCom & Kyivstar
Founded 2009
Founder Dmitry Zimin,
Augie K. Fabela II
Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands
Area served
 Russia, Canada, Italy, Greece, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Laos, Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic[1]
Key people
 Alexey Reznikovich[2] (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of OJSC VimpelCom)
Products Mobile telephony, mobile phones retailing, international telephony, broadband Internet, IPTV, city-wide Wi-Fi, domain name registrar and others
Revenue USD 9.78 billion (2016) [3]
Total assets $33.85 billion (2016)[4]
Owner Altimo (47.85%),
Telenor (42.95%),
Weather Investments II,
Bertofan Investments
Number of employees
 66,000
Subsidiaries OJSC VimpelCom, KB Impuls, Kyivstar, Wind Telecom
Website vimpelcom.com

VimpelCom Ltd. is a global provider of telecommunication services incorporated in Bermuda and headquartered in Amsterdam. It is the sixth largest mobile network operator in the world by subscribers (as of April 2012)[5] with 214 million customers (as per December 31, 2012) in 18 countries.[1] Most of the company's revenue comes from Russia (39%) and Italy (31%).[6]

VimpelCom's brands include "Beeline" (in Russia and CIS), "Kyivstar" (in Ukraine), "Wind" (in Italy and Greece), "Djezzy" (in Algeria), "Mobilink" (in Pakistan), "Banglalink" (in Bangladesh), and others.

Owners

VimpelCom Ltd. Shareholder Structure:[7]

Subsidiaries and shareholdings

History

Main articles: OJSC VimpelCom and Beeline (brand)

Russian OJSC VimpelCom was founded in 1992 in Moscow when VimpelCom's co-founders, Dmitry Zimin[9] and American Augie K. Fabela II came together to pioneer the Russian mobile industry.[10] Augie Fabela, who was then a young entrepreneur from the United States, and Zimin, who was a Russian scientist in his fifties, together launched the Beeline brand in 1993.

The company was one of the first mobile carriers in Russia. Its name derives from вымпел, the Russian word for pennon.

New York Stock Exchange

The old logo of OJSC VimpelCom during NYSE listing in 1996-2010

In 1996, OJSC VimpelCom, then the leader of Moscow cellular market (and automatically the largest mobile operator in Russia), became the first Russian company to have its shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange (with "VIP" as the ticker symbol).[11]

The company's main shareholders are Telenor, a Norwegian telecom conglomerate, and Alfa Group, a vehicle of Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman. They have been locked in a years-long struggle for control of this enterprise as well as other telecommunication assets in Eastern Europe.[12][13]

In 2008, OJSC VimpelCom obtained a 49.9% stake in Euroset, the largest mobile retailer in Russia and the CIS, which formerly belonged to its founder Yevgeny Chichvarkin.[11]

United holding company

See also: Kyivstar
Alexander Izosimov was the CEO of VimpelCom Ltd. until May 2011

VimpelCom Ltd. holding company was founded in 2009. In 2009, Telenor and Alfa agreed to merge their assets in VimpelCom and Kyivstar (Ukraine's number one wireless operator) with the aim of creating VimpelCom Ltd. (incorporated in Bermuda).[14] In 2010 the ticker “VIP” was transferred from OJSC VimpelCom to VimpelCom Ltd.. The website vimpelcom.com was also transferred from OJSC VimpelCom.

In October 2010, the united company acquired from Naguib Sawiris two assets:

The company has 205 million customers across 20 countries (as of 31 December 2011).[11]

As of April 2012, the government of Algeria is in talks to acquire from VimpelCom a 51% stake in Djezzy, the largest mobile phone company in the country.[15]

In January, 2013 VimpelCom Ltd. and the Wikimedia Foundation announced a partnership to deliver free Wikipedia access to VimpelCom customers through "Wikipedia Zero".[16]

Recent news

In September 2014, VimpelCom agreed to sell its majority stake in Wind Mobile for $272 million to its minority owner Globalive.[17]

In the summer of 2015, the United States Justice Department claimed that VimpelCom used a network of shell companies and phony consulting contracts to funnel bribes to a close relative of the president of Uzbekistan, in exchange for access to that country’s telecommunications market.[18] The board of one part-owner, Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, has severed consulting ties with former VimpelCom chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas due to the continuing police investigation.[19]

In November 2015 the company CEO, Jo Lunder was arrested on corruption charges in Oslo, Norway. The case alleges that in exchange for an operating license, VimpelCom has funneled $57.5M to Takilant, a company linked to Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.[20]

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced 18-02-2016 a global settlement along with the U.S. Department of Justice and Dutch regulators that requires telecommunications provider VimpelCom Ltd. to pay more than $795 million to resolve its violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to win business in Uzbekistan.[21][22]

References

  1. 1 2 "VimpelCom". vimpelcom.com.
  2. ↑ "VimpelCom". Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ "VimpelCom on the Forbes Global 2000 List". Forbes. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  4. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/companies/vimpelcom/
  5. ↑ Pavliva, Halia (2012-04-12). "VimpelCom Rises as Orascom Rejects Fine, Files for Arbitration". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  6. ↑ Леонид Коник (2012-04-26). "Altimo может потратить $1,5 млрд на увеличение доли в Vimpelcom Ltd. | comnews" (in Russian). Comnews.ru. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  7. ↑ "VimpelCom". vimpelcom.com.
  8. 1 2 http://www.vimpelcom.com/pr/fs.wbp
  9. ↑ "Founders". About.beeline.ru. 1933-04-28. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  10. ↑ "Founders". About.beeline.ru. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  11. 1 2 3 "Fact Sheet(s)". Vimpelcom.com. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  12. ↑ "Altimo of Russia steps up campaign against Telenor of Norway". New York Times. 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  13. ↑ White, Gregory L. (2009-05-20). "Norway Seeks Caution in Telenor Battle – WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  14. ↑ Nicholson, Chris V. (2009-10-05). "Telenor and Alfa Reach Deal on VimpelCom – NYTimes.com". Dealbook.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  15. ↑ "UPDATE 2-Algeria says no price set for Vimpelcom Djezzy unit". Reuters. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  16. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130128021849/http://www.vimpelcom.com/pr/pr.wbp?id=76fd6aa0-088a-4138-a1a1-85968737b2e8. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved April 22, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ↑ "Vimpelcom to sell Wind Mobile stake to Canadian minority owner" (Press release). Reuters. 15 September 2014.
  18. ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-29/u-s-seeks-to-grab-300-million-in-uzbek-telecom-bribery-probe
  19. ↑ Telenor ends consultancy deal with former CEO due to Vimpelcom probe
  20. ↑ "Former VimpelCom CEO seized at Oslo airport". The Local. 5 November 2015.
  21. ↑ Press Release: "VimpelCom to Pay $795 Million in Global Settlement for FCPA Violations", U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  22. ↑ Elco Van Groningen, "Takilant Found Guilty of Taking Bribes From Telia, VimpelCom", Bloomberg (July 20, 2016). Retrieved 21 July 2016.
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